League Report: Dundalk 3 - 2 Wexford Youths

A sunny Oriel Park was the scene of an electrifying encounter that saw Dundalk twice come back from the verge of defeat and snatch a 3-2 injury-time victory over Wexford Youths.

The visitors surprised everyone by taking the lead twice, but the champions had the patience, tact and class where it mattered.

Wexford Youths manager, Shane Keegan, said ahead of the game that he was hoping to get Dundalk on an off-day. He got just that, as the Lilywhites struggled in phases of this game and looked utterly disjointed at times.

Wexford twice capitalised on lapses of concentration to take the lead and It must be disappointing that, despite this, the Youths still didn’t have enough to out-box the league’s heavyweights.

Youths keeper Graham Doyle was twice called upon early doors, to smother a John Mountney pile-driver and then a McMillian effort. Business as usual it seemed.

Then, Oriel Park was stunned into silence when Paul Murphy’s 12^th minute effort nosed Wexford in front.

Murphy picked up the ball quite some way out and looked to have a lot of work to do with Dundalk’s rearguard between him and Dundalk’s custodian Gary Rogers.

Just as it looked he wouldn’t have the legs for the task, he took a punt from 30 yards which, perhaps assisted by a scuff off the ground, hurtled past a bamboozled Rogers to open the scoring.

Wexford’s lead was to be short lived as the Lilywhites levelled matters hardly ten minutes later. McMillian darted a fine heather goalwards which required an acrobatic save from Doyle, and Horgan was alive to the rebound to pump it home from close range to the jubilation of the home fans.

On the half hour mark, Robbie Benson almost got himself on the scoresheet with a well timed effort that rounded Doyle but grazed the wrong side of the upright before going out.

For the home side, Horgan and Benson were the stand out players but collectively the Dundalk engine wasn’t purring as well as it can. The scrappy, end-to-end nature of the game,made for one of the most enthralling and combustive fixtures in Oriel Park this season.

Wexford’s willingness to make a game of it made for an interesting spectacle. One might have expected the Premier League newbies to be tentative going forward, but they did have efforts through Murphy and Dunne that had the home fans unsettled.

The second half was to have even more drama. A lack of communication between Gartland and Gannon allowed Eric Molloy to saunter into the box at an acute angel and beat Gary Rogers low at his near post.

With 20 minutes remaining, Youths withstood waves of attack and were fortunate to have a penalty claim waved away – it looked like it might just be their night.

The Cavalry, the captain Stephen O’Donnell, entered the fray with 25 minutes remaining and had an instant impact. Ever the player to jump in medias res, he led by example , thumping a shot goalwards that Dunne strained to push over with virtually his first taste of the ball.

From the resulting corner, Darren Meenan score directly from a corner to level affairs and rouse the Sunday crowd to fever pitch.

Wexford did Dundalk a favour drawing with Cork 2-2 in Turner’s Cross in the first trimester of fixtures, and it looked like they were to return the courtesy for the Rebels as the clock ticked down.

But Wexford hearts were broken when a Ronan Finn free kick on the left found Patrick McEleney, who was able to dink and slot the ball past Doyle to seal the win in the most dramatic of fashion.

It’s a cliché the saying that champions win when they are playing badly, but that certainly happened here. It maintains Dundalk’s four point lead at the top ahead of their meeting with Cork next week.

Dundalk FC: Gary Rogers, Sean Gannon (Stephen O’Donnell, 75), Brian Gartland, Andy Boyle, Dane Massey, Chris Shields, Ronan Finn, Robbie Benson ( Patrick McEleney, 63), Daryl Horgan, John Mountney (Darren Meenan, 45) David McMillan.

Subs not used: Gabriel Sava, Shane Grimes, Paddy Barrett, Ciaran Kilduff.

Booked: Chris Shields 30, Robbie Benson 45.

Wexford Youths: Graham Doyle, Craic McCabe, Ryan Delaney, Andre Mulligan, Eric Molloy, Chris Kenny Adrien Friel, John Bonner, Paul Murphy (Gary Delaney, 88), Shane Dunne (Danny Furlong, 77), Stephen Last.

Subs not used: Matt Connor,, John Peare, Conor Whittle, Conor O’Keefe, Danny Ledwith.

Booked: Shane Dunne 77, Rya Delaney 81.

Referee: Neil Doyle .

Attendance: 2,371.

ExtraTime.ie Man of the Match: Graham Doyle (Wexford Youths).